Drake Documentary Sparks Lawsuit Against Universal Music Group

UMG faces a lawsuit over the unauthorized Drake documentary that surfaced earlier this year.

BYAron A.Feb 15, 201924.8K Views

The production company behind an unauthorized Drake documentary seems to have a bone to pick with Universal Music Group and now, they're taking the major record label to court for having their doc pulled from streaming services.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

According to TMZ, Symettrica Entertainment is suing Universal Music Group for allegedly having their documentary on Drake taken down from streaming services. Symettrica claims UMG sent out notices to take down the music and video clips in the documentary, Drake: Rewriting The Rules. In documents filed in court, the production company claims UMG's move to pull the documentary, "has nothing to do with purported 'copyright infringement,' and everything to do with placating its artist Drake by attempting to suppress any commentary or criticism of Drake."

The unauthorized documentary on Drake dropped on Vevo in November before it made its way onto Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon on Jan. 16th. The production company said they received a notice from UMG the next day and two days afterward, the streaming services removed the documentary, saying they had no other choice.

Symmetrica said the use of Drake's clips were fair use, claiming UMG caused them to lose a ton of money. They want the court to make it clear that the use of the Drake clips doesn't infringe on copyright laws.

To make it clear, Drake isn't involved in this lawsuit, only UMG.

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Aron A.

Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.